1. Technical Field
The present invention is directed toward devices for preventing the theft of garments, and more particularly toward a garment anti-theft device for preventing removal of hangers from a garment display rack.
2. Background Art
Clothing retailers in recent years have been overwhelmed with an increase in shoplifting of valuable garments such as designer dresses and suits. At the same time, these retailers have been facing increasing labor costs, making it more expensive to provide personnel to protect against such theft.
One particularly vexing problem has been the mass theft of garments from garment display racks. Typically, garments such as designer dresses and suits are hung on hangers which in turn are suspended from a support bar of a garment display rack. Because the hangers are easily removed from the rack, a large number of the hangers can be simultaneously removed from the rack quite easily, permitting a thief to make a quick exit from a store.
One approach to prevent such theft has been to attach the garment to one end of a cable with the other end of the cable secured in a cable lock mechanism attached to the clothes rack. While this device is justified with extremely expensive garments such as furs and fine woolen coats, the expense of the cables and the cable lock mechanism and the employee time required to attach the garments to the cable makes this device impractical for mass merchandised garments of lesser value.
Other structures such as those disclosed in Parillo, U.S. Pat. No. 3,735,875 and Shapiro, U.S. Pat. No. 3,472,385, are designed prevent the mass theft of clothing by locking the hangers to the garment display rack. Generally, these structures use a bar which is suitably locked over the top of the hangers. These structures are considered too unsightly for garment display racks and do not properly space articles hung on the rack. These structures are particulary unsuited for a certain standard form of display rack which has a support arm that extends at an angle relative to the horizontal. Moreover, these structures are not readily adapted for retrofitting on existing non-locking display racks.
Other prior art devices provide a rack with an elongated support member having a plurality of grooves extending through the support member and opening at an elongated surface. Examples are disclosed in Thomas, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,204,601 and 4,300,690. The grooves are adapted to receive the hook of a hanger and are spaced along the support member. An elongated locking member adapted to cover the opening ends of the grooves is provided for retaining the articles in the grooves. While this structure solves some of the problems discussed above, it still has several shortcomings. Most significantly, it is easy for employees to circumvent such a structure. For example, a non-diligent employee may simply return a garment hanger by placing the hook of the hanger over the top of the locking member. Furthermore, when locking the locking member in a closed position an employee cannot be certain that the lock has engaged the locking member to secure it in place without physically trying to lift the locking member. Thus, while the locking member may appear to be locked, it may not in fact be locked. In addition, such security display racks are difficult to attach to existing display rack structure. Moreover, once the locking member is unlocked it can be difficult for the employee to grab and lift the locking member from the clothes rack. Finally, the locking member is attached to the rack to pivot about an axis transverse to the length of the rack. As a result, the locking member is cantilevered from the display rack while hangers are being inserted or removed, creating a possible hazard or obstruction in a crowded store environment.